UFOs reported north of Houston described as 'flowing orbs'

Published 5:00 pm, Wednesday, March 5, 2014

The Mutual UFO Network, which investigates thousands of reports of unidentified flying objects every year, has classified a sighting over Cleveland as "unknown."

Known by its initials MUFON, the network closed its investigation Nov. 11, and the case has been recently publicized, said Fletcher Gray, MUFON's volunteer chief investigator for Texas.

The sighting took place Aug. 20, when a Cleveland woman was taking pictures of a cloud that looked like a tornado. As she was photographing, she noticed that, below the cloud, were five "orb shaped objects that moved slowly under the cloud in a straight line ...," according to the MUFON report.

MUFON's investigator filed the case as "unknown aerial vehicle," meaning there was no way to determine whether the object was extraterrestrial or a known aircraft, Gray said.

Gray, a retired Humble police officer, doesn't disagree with the "unknown" conclusion but said he thinks the orbs are helicopters.

"It looks like five helicopters moving from one place to another," he said. "We don't think it's extraterrestrial, or at least I don't think so."

The "trailing marks" in the photo indicate the objects were moving at more than 100 mph, which would be consistent with a helicopter's typical speed of 120 mph to 150 mph, he said.

"There's a helicopter unit out of the Conroe area, and they have helicopters at Hooks (Airport in northwest Harris County)," he said. "They are in various locations."

But because there was no way to prove what the objects were, the group's stance on the sighting remains "unknown," he said.

Of the 500 to 600 reports that MUFON gets each month, more than 95 percent are explainable as either a known aircraft, a hoax by the person making the report or simple confusion, Gray said.

It's not unusual, Gray said, to get reports from West Texas residents who see "UFOs" that turn out to be weather balloons launched from Fort Sumner, N.M. The balloons are 60 feet wide, 140 feet tall and fly at high altitudes, he said.

Hoaxes are also not uncommon, he said. In one, a professional photographer in California took a picture of the moon and made it look like a UFO, Gray said.

"He did a beautiful job," Gray said. "People like to hoax this stuff."